14 
LAND & WATER 
October 12, iqi6 
Economy in Meat Production 
By T. B. Wood 
Professor T. B. Wood, M.A., is one of our leading 
agricultural authorities. Monro Fellow of Goiiville and 
Catus College, he is also Drapers Professor of Agricul- 
ture in (he Univtrsity of Cambridge. 
FOR some months past the air has been full 
of schemes. for the reorganisation of British 
agriculture after the war. All of them centre 
on one point, namely the necessity of increasing 
home production of foodstuffs so as to make the nation 
more nearly self-supporting. , In nearly all cases increased 
home production is assumed to be synonj'mous with an 
increased acreage of wheat. Very little attention has 
been given to increased production of foods of animal 
origin, such as meat and dairy products. 
Now the British people arc a nation of meat eaters, 
and the meat eating habit is not the least likely to be given 
up. Also, whilst wheat can be carried on any kind of 
ship, meat is much more bulky and can be carried only 
on ships fitted with complicated cold storage machinery 
specially designed for the purpose. 
Consequentij" increased home production of foods of 
animal origin is most desirable, and has been, for some 
months past, the subject of close investigation by 
my colleague, .Mr. K. J. J. Mackenzie, M.A., and myself. 
The results which we have arrived at are of great in- 
terest and importance. They are set out very briefly 
below. 
In the first instance we set ourselves the problem of 
investigating the relation between the amount of fodder 
consumed and the amount of veal or beef produced by 
animals slaughtered at various ages. 
Our method of investigation was as follows : The term 
fodder as used in connection with veal and beef production 
includes such diverse feeding stuffs, as milk, hay, straw, 
roots, and various kinds of corn and oil seed cakes. For 
our purpose it was necessary to express all these widely 
different articles under one common denomination. We 
decided to convert them all into what is known as starch 
equivalent, and before proceeding further it is necessary to 
define this term. The starch equivalent of any kind of 
fodder is the number of pounds of starch which are equiva- 
lent for producing veal or beef to loo lb. of the fodder in 
question. For instance the starch equivalents of several 
typical fodders are : milk i6, hay 30 to 40, straw 10 to 20, 
roots 6 to 10, oats 60, linseed cake 75, with variations 
according to quality as determined by analyses and feed- 
ing experiments. 
The next step was to collect from recorded instances 
of the best and most economical practice rations consumed 
with successful results by animals of known weights and 
ages. These rations were calculated in terms of their 
starch equi\alents from figures such as those given 
above. 
The ration in terms of starch equivalent was then 
plotted against the live weight of the animals for which 
it formed a satisfactory diet, and by joining the separate 
points the two curves shown in figure i were obtained. 
These two curves 
record accurately 
the rations re- 
quired to produce 
satisfactory growth 
and fattening in 
animals intended 
for veal or beef 
from birth on- 
wards. The cur\'es 
can be utilised 
thus : Suppose it 
is required to find 
the ration for a 
young animal 
about six months 
o 1 d w h o s e 1 i v e 
weight is 350 lb. 
From the point A 
corresponding to 
350 lb. on the horizontal line on which the live weights 
are marked, draw a vertical line A, B, D, cutting the 
two curves at B and D. From these points draw 
horizontal lines to the vertical line on which the rations 
are marked. These lines cut the ration line at C and E, 
and these points indicate the required rations. Thus 
the growth ration is 5! lb. of starch equivalent and the 
fattening ration 6i lb. of starch equivalent. To put these 
rations into actual practice it is further necessary to 
calculate the quantity of the various feeding stuffs avail- 
able which will supply the indicated amount of starch 
equivalent. In doing so it is necessary to. bear in mind 
that the ration must also supply a sufiicient amount of 
protein. 
Having constructed these curves it was possible to 
estimate with considerable exactitude how much fodder 
was required to make an animal fat for slaughter at any 
given live weight. Suppose, for instance, it is desired 
to know how much fodder must be consumed in order to 
make a fat calf about five or six months old weighing about 
350 lbs. live weight — the kind of animal that is usually 
slaughtered for veal in most continental countries. 
Such an animal must receive a fattening ration from 
birth, when its live weight will be about 8(j lb., until its 
live weight increases to 350 lb. The total amount of 
fodder consumed during this period will be represented by 
the shaded area in Fig. 2. 
VitU fiAOdii^Ctl-it. 
lb. 
It will amount to about 
600 lb. of fodder reckoned 
as starch equi\alent. This 
amount of fodder will ha\-e 
produced 350 lb. of calf less 
80 lb., the weight of the 
calf at birth, or about 270 
lb. of calf. In other words 
about 2 1 lb. of starch 
equivalent produces i lb. of 
calf, or since such a .calf 
yields about half its weight 
of starch equivalent produces 
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of edible veal, about 4 J 
about I lb. of veal. 
Suppose now it is desired to compare, from the point of 
view of economy of production, \ea:l produced as above 
with steer beef such as is known on the markets as prime 
Scotch or prime Norfolk. 
The most economical way of producing such beef is to 
feed the animal on a growth ration until he is about 2\ 
years old when his live weight will be about 900 lb. He 
must then be given a fattening ration for about four or 
five months when lii's live weight will increase to about 
1,200 lb. The total amount of fodder which he will have 
consumed since birth is represented by the shaded por- 
tion of Fig. 3. It amounts to about 8,400 lb. of starch 
equivalent. Allowing for the weight of the animal 
at birth. 80 lb. as before, this works out at 7 J lb. of starch 
equivalent per lb. of steer, or since such an animal yields 
60 per cent, of its live weight as edible beef, 123 lb. of 
starch equivalent per lb. of beef produced. 
Evidently veal can be produced from the point of view 
of consumption of 
fodder far more 
economically than 
prime steer beef. 
In fact I lb. of 
such beef requires 
for its production 
Wry ncarlv three 
times as much fodder 
as is consumed in 
the production of 
I lb. of veal. 
But it may be 
argued that weight 
for weight beef is 
morevaluabl.* than 
veal for human 
food, and this is 
undoubtedly the 
case, .\verage 
